Chapter 31 Alive Again
Kouga glared at his subordinates with his piercing blue eyes. Both Hakkaku and Ginta began mumbling unintelligibly; it was not their place to negotiate with another on behalf of Kouga. Even if it was with his best interests in mind.
"What did you promise him?"
"What they promised," Sesshoumaru interrupted the brewing fight between the alpha wolf and his betas, "is to provide me with information concerning the movements of your killer, Wei Cheng."
Kouga stared at his subordinates questioningly, not quite willing to admit his own desire to know. "Well? Once a pact is made it should be followed through, with so spit it out already. What do you know?"
"Wei told us he would be waiting for us to bring out our pack to face him again. He was heading east when we last saw him." Hakkaku continued hesitantly. "He told us that he didn't find his fight with you satisfying and that we were to bring him more to kill."
Kouga felt the blood rise in his veins as he had been insulted personally and the entire pack threatened. Now honor demanded that the challenge be answered.
"There is more though," Hakkaku continued. "Wei spared one of the men. He was a foreigner and spoke our language with an accent. Wei called him his 'dongseang' and his 'brother in suffering,' I think he is waiting for us to return so he can tell us whatever he knows."
"Dongseang?" Kouga repeated questioningly.
"Its Korean," Sesshoumaru answered while some additional puzzle pieces fit together in his mind. He knew Japan had annexed Korea around 1910 and used it as a launching point for invading China and Wei must have seen Koreans as kindred spirits; brothers in suffering. "Wei was saying something like 'little brother' when he used it."
Turning to the reincarnated Sesshoumaru, Kouga paused for a moment. He knew events were moving fast and they needed to go after Wei, but he also needed answers on what he was caught up in.
Questions swirled around in his mind, particularly as they pertained to Kagome and the former Lord of the Western Lands. He had refused to believe that Sesshoumaru had returned from the grave and was Kagome's lover but now, when confronted with the indisputable reality, one in which Sesshoumaru's and Kagome's scents were intermingled, he felt a profound sense of loss.
Kouga wasn't sure exactly what he wanted from Kagome. He had already married Ayame and he was fairly certain that Kagome would never accept being a concubine. She seemed to have too much spirit and class to accept such a role, even if he had given up his jewel shards for her. And he knew Sesshoumaru sure as hell wouldn't allow that. Nonetheless, Kouga felt that he needed something from her that he couldn't quite put into words. There was just some sense that things between them were unfinished and he had to talk with her to bring to an end the feelings of incompletion plaguing him.
Kouga also felt something like a fool because undoubtedly Sesshoumaru knew of his clumsy attempts to contact Kagome and would be less than pleased by them.
Those things and the questions about them will just have to wait...It's all about Wei now.
"So then," Kouga began. "You seem to know something about this 'Wei' guy. What is he and what's his deal?"
Sesshoumaru regarded silently Kouga for a moment, not certain how much to reveal about Wei and thus himself. "Wei's goal, it would seem, is to erase Japan from this world."
World. That single word echoed in Kouga's mind and with each reverberation gained greater meaning...
Something clicked unexpectedly in Kouga's mind about Wei's attire from his last memory as he lay dying. Kagome had always dressed strangely, with clothing that had bizarre writing on it and was unlike anything he had ever seen. Wei had also been wearing strange clothing that didn't match anything he had ever seen before. Except, perhaps, Kagome's...and now Sesshoumaru's.
In a way, Kagome's clothing and Wei's had a certain similarity to them...She is supposed to be from another world...and Wei...
"Wei is from Kagome's world isn't he?" Kouga exclaimed suddenly, proud of his rare feat of insight. "That's why he had her blood on him! I keep hearing how a person needs to use the Shikon no Tama to get back and forth between her world and this one and she's the guardian of it! She was used by him to get here wasn't she? And that's why you're after him, isn't it? He kidnapped her from you!"
Sesshoumaru made no answer but to Kouga that was as good as an affirmative. Then another thought struck Kouga and caused his narrow line of ice to form down his spine. If Wei was powerful enough to steal Kagome from Sesshoumaru, then it's no wonder I lost to him...and it means I won't be able to take him on him by myself...
Kouga didn't relish what had to be done next, but if he was to try and make Sesshoumaru an ally against Wei, then certain matters had to be cleared up. Otherwise they would just be a nuisance, hindering any possible cooperation between them.
Taking a deep breath Kouga asked, "Sesshoumaru, mind if I talk with Kagome?"
